[ale] [OT] any experience with low self discharge NIMH batteries
Ron Frazier (ALE)
atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com
Sun Mar 10 01:39:56 EST 2013
Hi Jim, and all,
Thanks for the note. However, the more I think about it, and the $8
cost for each 6V square battery, probably much more for rechargeable, I
think I'm just going to use the flashlights and lanterns that use these
until the batteries are dead, then retire and donate the flashlights.
This happened tonight when I was testing one of 3 lanterns I have which
have 2 6W fluorescent tubes. The lantern failed to light. I tested the
tubes in another lantern and they worked. I tested the batteries and 2
(out of 4 !!!) were dead. I scavenged the 2 tubes and 2 good batteries
for other purposes. I'm donating the lantern shell. If someone wanted
to replace the parts, they could get it working.
I'm considering getting replacement lanterns since my fluorescent ones
could fail at any time in the same way.
I've found two main contenders for high output LED lanterns, although
I'm sure there are others. If you want to come close to competing with
a 12W fluorescent lantern, you have to have 4W - 6W of LED power. You
can pretty much forget anything not powered by C or D batteries. You
want around 300+ lumens of output.
My main contender is this, which has good reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Coast-EAL20-375-Lumen-Lantern/dp/B003V1WGWK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362884119&sr=8-1&keywords=coast+eal20
This is not the same as the Coast Emergency Area Lamp, which has lower
output. You want the EAL20. This is supposed to provide 375 lumens.
It has a dimmer, battery meter, and red, and red flashing modes in
addition to white light.
My second contender is this, which also has good reviews. This has high
and low modes but no red and no battery meter.
http://www.amazon.com/Rayovac-Sportsman-LED-Lantern-SE3DLN/dp/B0018S4XIS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362888629&sr=8-1&keywords=rayovac+se3dln
I think they're now advertising this as a 300 lumen lamp, even though
the ad says 240.
I could use these Duracell Professional disposables to power them at $
1.25 per battery.
http://www.amazon.com/DURACELL-PROCELL-Professional-Alkaline-Battery/dp/B00009V2QW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1362890230&sr=8-2&keywords=duracell+d
Or, if I wanted to pay $ 14 per battery, I can use these Maha Imedion
Low Self Discharge cells.
http://www.thomasdistributing.com/Maha-Imedion-2-Pack-D-Cell-9500mAh-NIMH-Rechargeable-Batteries_p_2469.html
Even though I was originally inquiring about LSD cells for my LED 3AAA
flashlights, I have a good number of disposables on hand, and they only
cost me maybe $ 6 / year to replace. Until I use up my spares, I
probably won't worry about going rechargeable with those units.
By the way, if you need C or D size LSD cells, you might NOT want to buy
Eneloops. I read a forum post that indicates these are actually several
AAA cells in a C can or several AA cells in a D can. Since these all
have to charge and discharge in parallel, there is a greater chance
they'll fail. They also have lower capacity than the Imedions.
Sincerely,
Ron
On 3/9/2013 4:01 PM, Jim Kinney wrote:
>
> I have a vague memory of a rechargeable lantern battery at Frys.
>
> On Mar 9, 2013 2:38 PM, "Ron Frazier (ALE)"
> <atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com
> <mailto:atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
> Alex Carver <agcarver+ale at acarver.net
> <mailto:agcarver%2Bale at acarver.net>> wrote:
>
> >On 3/8/2013 19:25, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> Alex Carver <agcarver+ale at acarver.net
> <mailto:agcarver%2Bale at acarver.net>> wrote:
> >>
> >>> On 3/4/2013 21:04, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> >>>> Hi all,
> >>>>
> >>>> A few months back, we had a thread here about new advanced LED
> >>>> flashlights. I bought one that has the giant 1/4 in LED inside,
> >and
> >>> is
> >>>> bright enough to be competitive with an incandescent krypton
> bulb.
> >>> Love
> >>>> the flashlight. Works great. However, it's powered by only 2 AA
> >>>> batteries and they're dying 6 months later. I'm considering
> using
> >>> NIMH
> >>>> rechargeables there. The problem with that is that, left on the
> >>> shelf,
> >>>> standard NIMH batteries lose 10 % - 30 % of their charge per
> month.
> >>> So,
> >>>> you could pick up the flashlight and not have it working when you
> >>> need it.
> >>>>
> >>>> Enter Low Self Discharge NIMH batteries. These are
> relatively new.
> >>> They
> >>>> claim to lose only about 15 % of their charge after a year. So,
> >you
> >>>> could get away with charging the flashlight batteries only
> every 6
> >>>> months or so.
> >>>>
> >>>> Two main brands of LSD NIMH seem to dominate. Eneloop by
> Sanyo and
> >>>> Imedion by Powerex (Maha Energy). I've used some standard
> Powerex
> >>> NIMH
> >>>> 2700 mah batteries and I like them, but I have to charge them if
> >>> they've
> >>>> been sitting a while.
> >>>>
> >>>> Does anyone have any experience with the LSD NIMH batteries.
> Is it
> >a
> >>>> good idea to use them in a flashlight, or stick with
> Duracells at $
> >3
> >>> /
> >>>> pair, or other alkalines? I know Fry's and Home Depot / Lowes
> >>> sometimes
> >>>> sell batteries in packages at lower unit cost. I haven't done a
> >>> price
> >>>> analysis on those.
> >>>
> >>> For something like a flashlight that can handle deep discharge try
> >one
> >>> of the lithium iron (that's Fe not a typo of 'ion') formulations.
> >You
> >>> can pick up AA versions at the hardware store next to the solar
> >powered
> >>>
> >>> garden lights.
> >>
> >> Hi Alex,
> >>
> >> Thanks for that info. I did some research on these and they sound
> >interesting. The attributes of that battery chemistry sound cool and
> >it's probably worth keeping an eye on. I don't think it will work in
> >my case since these batteries are 3.2 V and my flashlight expects to
> >see 3X 1.5 V cells. I may end up going with some of the LSD NIMH
> ones.
> >>
> >> Sincerely,
> >
> >Ah, but you're missing half the fun of tinkering with the
> flashlight to
> >
> >use them. :) A tiny, three terminal 4.5V regulator wedged inside and
> >you'd be set.
> >
>
> Hi Alex,
>
> I'm not sure I need another project to tinker with. The
> flashlight I mentioned is one of the new high power led pocket
> units. There's barely room for the 3 AAA batteries in it. I
> don't think I want to mess with that. Also, if it's a linear
> regulator, it would be wasting all the power dropping from 6.4 V
> to 4.5 V. The only way you could avoid that would be a switching
> regulator.
>
> However, I have a couple of bigger flashlights that have the
> krypton bulbs and the big 6V square lantern batteries. The
> batteries are around $ 10 each. More than the flashlight costs.
> I had planned to decommission the units after the batteries die.
> A Lithium Iron rechargeable battery pack for those might be worth
> considering. I wonder if such a thing is already available in
> that form factor?
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
--
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)
Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com
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